Millennium (Hayward) Place | 580 Washington Street | Downtown

Sorry about that...but I was referring to the surface lot. From what I understand there are markets or old store fronts below the street and that parking lot.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if there were once connections between the Chinatown Orange Line station and nearby buildings, just as Downtown Crossing is connected to Jordan Ma... I mean Macy's, and Filene's.
 
Those weren't called antiques in my day

The only "antiques" on the surface lot are old, used condoms.
 
The Globe said:
Expensive lesson

By Steve Bailey, Globe Columnist | May 4, 2007

How ridiculous is this? Boston's development agency is making payments in lieu of taxes to the city on a choice downtown site it auctioned off four years ago. The city, in effect, is paying taxes to itself. Meanwhile, the developer who won the auction hasn't built anything there yet, instead taking in millions of dollars parking cars there and paying exactly nothing in property taxes.

The sorry story of Hayward Place keeps getting worse. This black-top parking lot with the fancy name has become a prime example of how deals too often get done in this town, and why. If you are a developer, you need to be on the right side of the mayor. Everyone understands that Joe Fallon is on the right side of Tom Menino, and that Don Chiofaro is not. The mayor goes out of his way to find an anchor tenant for one; he won't return the calls of the other.

Tony Pangaro and Millennium Partners are definitely on the right side. It was Millennium that got the Ritz-Carlton Towers built, jump-starting redevelopment of the Combat Zone. That Pangaro was willing to accommodate a homeless shelter on the backside of his luxury development is the kind of gesture appreciated by the mayor.

It is not news Hayward Place was a bad deal for the city; we just didn't know how bad.

In 2001, Menino moved to sell the city-owned land on Washington Street across from the Ritz Towers, to get it back on the tax rolls and see something built there. Two years later, in a city desperate for new housing, the Boston Redevelopment Authority rejected seven developers ready to build housing in favor of Millennium, which proposed to build offices in the middle of a glut of office space. When Millennium came in with a low bid, it was allowed to match the highest bidder.

Now, six years later, not much has changed. Hayward Place remains a parking lot. A city school that was to be built with the money from the sale has not been built. The big difference: The millions in parking lot money now goes to Millennium.

The Boston Finance Commission, a city watchdog agency, says two key changes between the deal that the BRA put out for bid and the one it eventually signed with Millennium have cost the city millions. One changed the deal from a sale to a lease agreement; the other change allowed Millennium to keep all the parking revenue after the first two years.

The commission says the city had been collecting $537,000 a year in rent from the parking lot operator, but the lease Millennium signed allowed it to stop making those payments after only two years. Jeff Conley, the finance commission's executive director, estimates the parking revenues are as much as $2.3 million a year. Millennium can continue operating the parking lot until 2013, Conley says.

Do the math. Millennium agreed to pay $23 million for the land. It put up $13 million, and owes the balance when, and if, it begins construction. At an estimated $2.3 million a year in parking revenue, Millennium could gross as much parking cars in 10 years as it agreed to pay for the property. With a moderate initial investment, and good revenue, Millennium can afford to wait.

And it pays no property taxes. Last week, the BRA suddenly decided it would pay the city $159,000 a year in lieu of property taxes until construction begins. It is retroactive to July 2005, when Millennium stopped making monthly payments on the parking lot. "This is not a tax payment to the city," a BRA spokeswoman said. "This is a payment in lieu of taxes by the BRA to ensure that the city still receives revenue." The BRA says it "learned" from the process.

Millennium declined to return my calls.

Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at bailey@globe.com or at 617-929-2902.
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Link
 
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I already posted this graphic in the DTX thread but since this is about the only news on Hayward Place we've seen in a while, I figured I'd post it here as well.

1184232779_5565.gif
 
I think that's more a means for the Globe to pitch the thesis of the story than cause for actual hope on the Hayward Place project.
 
from the BBJ:


One project still on the drawing board, called Hayward Place, is located on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing on the border of Chinatown.

The developer, Anthony Pangaro of Millennium Partners, insists it is on track and will start "as soon as possible."

Hayward Place was approved last October as a 220-unit condominium project. However, Pangaro didn't rule out the possibility of converting for-sale units to rentals during the sales process.

"Those decisions can be made at a later time," said Pangaro. "No one can say things can't be rented in part, that's a device we always use, but at the end of the day it's for sale."
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High-end developers push forward while those in the midrange step to sidelines
 
Re: Hayward Place

This strikes me as a location that something proposed here should be taller. With Millennium Place across the street, Filene's U/C almost next door, why is this zoned for a maximum of 155ft? Some things I don't understand in Boston.
 
Re: Hayward Place

Due to its proximity to two T stops (Downtown Crossing & Chinatown), and its size, the Hayward site would actually be better for a super-tall than Winthrop Square...Except for the no-shadows-on-the-common law.
 
Re: Hayward Place

It's generaly believed that Menino made a deal with Millenium partners: nothing would be built here tall enough to block the view of the Ritz condo's. And i'm sure its just a coincedence that Millenium won the rights to develop this parcel and that they have been alowed to do nothing on this parcel all these yesrs.
 
Re: Hayward Place

Here are a couple of new renderings:

haywardplace2st7.jpg


haywardplace3ah6.jpg
 
Re: Hayward Place

^^ Where are those from? Any new news about this to go along with the renders?
 
Re: Hayward Place

I like it even though it should be taller.
 
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